The Fjords was one of the most amazing holiday experiences I’ve encountered so far and I would 100% recommend it as a must see!

As you can see below the photographs are stunning and it is so much better to show you the photographs so you can see just how beautiful the Fjords are!

Enjoy ♥

Top L-R: Sailing through the Fjords from Eidfjord-A view of Ulvik Bottom L-R: Two viewpoints from our canoe in Flåm Top L-R: A view of Bryggen in Bergen- A view of Bergen from the Funicular Bottom L-R: A view of Flåm from our Cruise Ship- An up close shot of Tvinde Waterfall

If you saw my last post you’ll notice that I dressed up a pair of blue jeans with silver block heel sandals and a blue pin striped shirt- what I didn’t show you was how I accessorised this look to dress it up even more. Luckily I took this up close shot of my accessories for that evening!

The details:Clutch bag- House Of FraserBracelet (I also wore matching earrings) – Attwood and SawyerRing- by a Welsh Designer at Tintern AbbeyNails: ‘Girls on Film’ Glitter Polish from Gosh

*Another Shot of my dress from above* Two dresses in one- The inner part of this dress was tight fitting, covered by gorgeous mesh and embroidered detailing- you can see this part blowing in the wind behind me (it was very windy on the top deck). [Shoes- New Look] *Dressing Up Blue Jeans* [Leather Bomber- Topshop] [Striped Shirt- Zara] [Blue Jeans- Primark] [Sandals- New Look]

Living in the UK I tend to favour long weekend breaks around Europe with good old budget airlines like EasyJet and Ryanair, and over the years I’ve got better at condensing my packing (not that my boyfriend would agree, but we’ll skim over his opinion for now 😀 )

So, only once have I checked my bag in on a budget airline (and yes, we were that couple unpacking at the desk and putting on layers of clothing so we were under the weight limit), and this means that every other time I have taken a small suitcase as carry on free of charge- no painful £50 charge for me *smug grin*. Initially, this was more stressful than it needed to be and you eventually learn that for a weekend away you don’t need both straighteners and curling tongs, neither do you need 6 dresses and four pairs of shoes *sigh*.

But what about packing your liquids- after all the limit (for most airlines) is ten 100ml containers for hand luggage. Now this doesn’t worry my boyfriend in the slightest I think he probably has about 6 liquids, if that, but me? Realistically I could end up with about 15 if I went really crazy.

So how do I go about organising my ‘Liquid Essentials’?

1) Go through your daily routine

For example; you wake up and brush your teeth, shower, exfoliate and wash/condition your hair. When that is done some of you might even have a more complicated morning routine that includes lots of lotions and potions. Then, you put your make up on (I tend to place everything in my go to make up routine out on the bed, then separate into liquids and non liquids). You might then blow dry your hair and use heat protectant spray and other styling liquids. Then you use body lotion and hand cream. At the end of you day you would then use a make up remover and other moisturisers. Then, you need to get specific to your destination- will you need suncream and after sun? Are you attending a special occassion that you’ll need extra hair and make up bits for than your usual daily routine?
Eeek- seems a lot now you’ve really thought about it doesn’t it? 😮

2) Don’t panic!

So, you have never noticed how many liquids you use in a day before have you? But there is hope- go through your day again, what can you cut out?

3) Find alternatives

Doesn’t sound so simple, but here are some shortcuts I’ve taken:

Buy some cheap plastic travel bottles and dispense some of your liquids that are over 100ml into these.

Take a small handbag sized body lotion that you can take around with you and use as a hand lotion- and it’s a bonus if it contains SPF and is suitable for facial use too! I like this one from The Body Shop 🙂

I’ve never taken my make up remover with me- I know a lot of people disagree with face wipes but it really does make reducing your liquids a lot easier.

If you’re not sure what counts as a liquid- ask! I’ve tweeted Ryanair and Easyjet about what counts as a liquid- and for the record lipsticks are NOT a liquid (woohoo!). Make sure you check though, because pastes etc count as a liquid.

You don’t need your day, night and eye moisturiser- pick one (providing you don’t have sensitive eyes like me, if so just make sure you take a frangrance free moisturiser with you).

Those of you big on eyeliner, look away now- I’ve gone without eyeliner and instead took my liquid friendly eye shadow palletes with me- a damp angled brush can do exactly the same when dipped into a black eyeshadow!

Are you and a friend etc sharing Shampoo/Conditioner/Toothpaste/Body Wash? Have they got room in their liquid bag? Great!! (Note, this may work better with your boyfriend than your bestie 😛 )

Buy a few cheap powder products (I like Collection for good, but cheap, make up products)- if you use cream/liquid blush, highlight and contour you might want to rethink this, or at least check that creams are allowed through with your airline/airport.

Convince myself I don’t need make up setting spray to make my make up look more ‘dewy’ (#girlproblems)

Take a good exfoliating mit and buy a shower gel that has gentle exfoliation beads etc- shower gel and exfoliation in one for the whole body! (just make sure it isn’t too abrasive for the face!

You can always buy travel minis at the airport then throw away before you fly back, and the same goes for perfume samples! (I hate throwing products away though!)

So what makes my cut?

Foundation

Primer & Moisturiser (mixed, and doubles as eye cream)

Mascara

Concealer (some might be okay to miss this one and use foundation instead..)

Handcream

Deodorant (liquid roll on)

Perfume

Shampoo

Conditioner

Toothpaste

Showergel *give to your very lovely travelling companion*

Suncream *give to your very lovely travelling companion*

How do you pack when your travelling with hand luggage? Is there anything you can’t go without? Let me know in the comments, because it is always a struggle, I’ve just marginally improved with a few years experience! 😀

On social media a few days ago Harpers Bazaar posted a link to a pair of paint splattered jeans- and I instantly fell in love! I’ll admit that the jeans may not be to everyone’s taste, but I absolutely love the hand painted paint splashes (I’m not letting go of the ‘Art Attack’ trend without a fight..), not to mention that proceeds from the sales go towards The Rialto Jean Project(you guys know I love a charitable fashion collaboration). The project has adopted the platform of ‘Denim Doing Good’, and sales go towards art therapy at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, aiming to help children grow in confidence and develop new skills despite their illness.

The collection includes many styles, colours and fits, whether you want bold, artistic splashes, a simple pop of colour, boyfriend jeans or skinnies, and the best part is that they are actually way more wearable than you’d first think! I personally they could easily transition from day to night- by day wear with an oversized crop and slip on skater shoes ( Topshop have some great options), and by night, simply swap the casual slip ons for a pair of high strappy sandals! Perfect!

I love the fit of this dress from River Island, its kind of like an over sized T-shirt dress, but with a bit more of a body con fit, and I especially love that it is an amazing dupe of the Celine brush stroke print! I teamed it with bare legs and my Celine inspired slip on skater shoes, but I it looks just as good with tights (I tucked some in my handbag just in case it rained, which it did.) The dress is so versatile, I wore it casually today for a shopping trip, but it could be dressed up so easily with a pair of strappy sandals! The jacket is a bargain buy from Ebay, I’ve done a lot of purchasing on there lately (as well as on Vinted) and I’ll hopefully have a blog up soon of what I got my hands on!

Good news! Judging by the most recent show from Dior (pre SS15), the things we buy for this Spring/Summer will be just as on trend next year, too, which is great for both my bank balance and the lack of wardrobe space I seem to have year on year..

Here are a few pieces from the collection we can take inspiration from:

Dark colours may not be an obvious choice, but we saw it for this Spring from Lanvin, and now Dior have set the standard for darks for SS15, too!Summer brights, like orange and yellow, were seen on the runway again at this Dior show, but what’s great is orange is also set to be huge through AW14, too! That’s a possible 3 seasons use of the trend!Mixing of prints looks as if it’ll still be big next Spring/Summer, too!A hint of the art inspired trend.Recognise the mesh detailing we’ve seen this year from the Sports Luxe trend?

And what’s new?

Florals are a given, but Dior gave us a more grown up floral to look forward to- oversized and art inspired!A new boho skirt shape could be round the corner!

There were so many beautiful gowns at this years Met Gala, but here are just a few of my favourites:

Bee Shaffer in a beautiful Alexander McQueen gown!Hailee Steinfeld stunned in this ‘New Look’ inspired gown by Prabal Gurung.It was pretty obvious Dita Von Teese would nail this theme perfectly- how amazing does she look in this Zac Posen dress?I loved this gorgeous structured dress by Marchesa worn by Karolina Kurkova!Sarah Jessica Parker looked amazing in an Oscar de la Renta gown that fitted the theme perfectly! The back of the dress was stunning!Suki Waterhouse kept it classic in this layered Burberry gown.